Michael Barbella Managing Editor Good riddance to the Dragon. That long-standing symbol of good

Michael Barbella • Managing Editor

Good riddance to the Dragon. That long-standing symbol of good fortune to Eastern cultures behaved more like its evil Western twin last year, mindlessly menacing the planet in full fire-breathing malevolence, wreaking havoc in its path and turning its victims’ carefully-laid life plans upside-down.

Dragons typically don’t conduct themselves in such a destructive fashion. Characteristically beneficent, Eastern Dragons are magical creatures that provide heavenly transportation to the dead, ward off evil, protect the innocent and bequeath safety to all who hold its emblem, according to folklore. They are symbols of the natural world, representations of adaptability and transformation, power and excellence, valiancy and boldness, heroism and perseverance, nobility and divinity. In Eastern societies, Dragons are not the wicked monsters depicted in Western literary fantasies or The Book of Revelation; rather, they are angels that coexist with the gods.

Although they are not considered gods per se, Dragons do possess some almighty powers. They control the world’s waterways and rainfall, and their appearance is a symbol of both good luck and prosperity (according to Chinese legend, the Dragon first appeared in the sky while a future emperor was born, and the country was blessed with peace and prosperity for generations).

Such fortuity has made the Dragon the most revered and sought-after sign of the Chinese zodiac. Birth rates tend to spike when Dragons rear their heads every 12 years, as children born under this sign are considered luckier, smarter, stronger and more likely to succeed than their astrological counterparts.

Years that host Dragons—such as 2012—are considered particularly blessed, though Chinese stargazers and Feng Shui masters warn they also can be turbulent and spawn unpredictable events (not surprisingly, last year’s most devastating curve balls involved water—the Costa Concordia disaster and Superstorm Sandy).

Technically then, last year’s Dragon behaved quite ordinarily.

But labeling (or remembering) 2012 as unpredictable and turbulent is shortsighted and unfair. Frankly, most years are a bit tumultuous and capricious. Still, there is no denying the sucker punches that roiled the planet last year—from the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting and destructive Thailand floods to Syria’s civil war and discovery of the “God particle” (a.k.a., the Higgs boson).

Last year’s Dragon even rattled the normally stable medical device industry. Between layoffs, shrinking VC funding and attempted assassination of the excise tax, 2012 certainly was more tempestuous than past years. To mark the Dragon’s departure and arrival of the Water Snake (a more reposeful serpent, thankfully), Medical Product Outsourcing created a roundup of the year’s top financial news/trends and those expected to dominate the industry in 2013.